Letters to the Editor: 01.29.07

Our city manager, with the rest of the city, needs to be embarrassed
at how our courses are operated.

The two courses don't even have an operating snack bar to enjoy
during or after a round. I, like most golfers, travel to Sinton,
Portland, Alice, and Victoria to enjoy playing a nice golf course where
you play on decent fairways and excellent greens.

The article in the paper ("Local golf courses in green of business,"
Jan. 21) didn't include that golfers would rather travel out of the
city to play. It didn't include that Gabe Lozano staffers burned their
greens due to mismanagement, which made them unplayable for a year.

It didn't mention that Gabe Lozano was closed for six months. It
also didn't include that Oso has been under major repairs.

The city manager stated that we had a small profit. Why then are the
courses unable to support a normal expected facility? I would be
embarrassed, knowing that golf is very important to tourism, if I
failed to manage our courses properly. It is shameful when I have
guests (who play golf) in town.

Carlos Pena

Equal school sizes

We cannot ask for a new high school when two high schools are
underutilized. We recently had two schools go 4A for lack of
enrollment. Parents, supervisors and elected officials make unpopular
decisions sometimes. We do it for the bigger picture and brighter
future.

Some of us remember the '70s, when we were forced to be bused across
town to attend junior high to end segregation. It was a positive idea
and the right thing for the city.

We now need to redistrict. The five schools need to have equal
enrollment. We must do it slowly and wisely. We should begin with
upcoming freshmen. This will take four years. Allow students to finish
in the high they started in. I think we can then justify a new
school.

The end result: We will see a need for a new school. The only reason
this hasn't happened is because kids living in nice neighborhoods would
have to attend Miller or Moody.

No one asked the kids of Haas Junior High School in the '70s if they
wanted to go to Cunningham or Martin JHS. It was just needed, and it
was the right thing to do. The time is here to do something
similar.

Carlos Pena

Kids unprotected

Channel 3 recently reported an incident involving the severe
physical abuse of twin 2-year-olds in our city. It was kind of a hard
segment to watch, as the reporter was clearly shook up and appeared to
want to cry. If it is true that this parent was already on record with
Child Protective Services and was on probation for child abuse, someone
clearly dropped the ball.

Someone needs to pursue this, for I and many other citizens are sick
and tired of hearing of these atrocities. Those who were responsible
for overseeing that these children were not being abused should be
fired for laziness, incompetence or indifference.

Ray Madrigal

Time to go

If President Bush is looking for answers in Iraq, I would suggest
that, as of today, he can claim victory there. Saddam is dead.

We've given the Iraqis all that we can. We've given our most
precious asset - the lives of our military people. We've given them all
the tools they need to reclaim their country for themselves. They've
proven they want their independence by coming out several times to
vote, despite threats of violence and death. They showed the world with
pride their purple fingers, proof that they will not be thwarted in
their quest. We've shown them how to run a government, we've given them
a tremendous amount of money, we've trained them, armed them with
knowledge and guns, and they have their own resource, oil.

Now is the time for us to leave. Yes, there will be problems there.
Those are the birth pains of a new nation, one nation that we have
given everything to, a nation that must be able to stand on its own two
feet. Mr. President, stop being their baby-sitter; let them learn to
walk on their own.